「All right then, what should we do about them?」

I was in the middle of deciding the geryon’s treatment. As of now, the geryon king stays in the Kurumfar mansion as a hostage. The rest of them are staying in the forest nearby, hunting, and delivering a part of the hunted animals as a tribute.  Of course, if they ever cause harm to someone, I’ll kill them. Most likely, it won’t escalate to such an extent.

Since not many amongst the geryons are able to talk, I told Rico to stay behind and listen to their reports. After that, as you might have guessed, the geryons cooperated with the harpies in hunting, foraging, and information gathering forming a good scout party.

As for the baby geryon, it managed to find his enemy. However, in the simple world of geryons, the strong is right and the weak has no say. That’s why the baby geryon had no choice but to strive to get stronger.

「By the way, what is your name?」

「A name? What is that? 」

「I see, it’s something unique to you which I can use to call you. Should I come up with one? 」

I thought about the geryon king’s name for a while…….This is getting troublesome.

「All right, you name is Geki. I shall call you Geki」

「Understood」

He accepted it without any objections. He doesn’t seem to mind his name too much.

「Right, you need a name too. You are……」

「By the way, this baby geryon is female」[¹]

「Eh? Female? Emm…..your name is Itora」

「Kyuuuu!」

Baby geryon seemed happy. When I asked Gon later, it seems that she was happy because she received the same treatment as the king. I ended up bringing Itora to my mansion and making her my pet. Her body would probably become bigger with time but let’s think about it when it actually happens.

Sometime after the showdown with the geryons, I brought Mei with me to the Kurumfar territory. The fall was closing in and, normally, you should hear the noise of farmers harvesting the crops. However, a layer of salt on the fields made this impossible.

Why is the situation this dire in the Kurumfar territory? I was able to hear the story of the old farmers living nearby.

Approximately three years ago, the sea water changed its course and started flowing towards the river. Such a phenomenon shouldn’t appear for no reason. At first, they were happy at being able to catch the sea fish in the river, but the river water was also used for watering the fields. Like that, the fields turned white before everyone noticed.

The already small yield decreased even further. Feeling despair, the farmers were able to somehow survive thanks to the support from Count Kurumfar. However, because of the rebellion the supply was cut off, the soldiers were routed, and the succubus appeared.

The succubus gathered the rest of the soldiers and some villagers, occupied the headquarters of the army in the mansion in the forest [²], and begun plundering everything in sight.

「The men left the villages leaving behind mostly women and elderly」

Powerlessly said the village head of the village north of us.

「The north of the mansion is a big grassland, you should be able to develop this land easily……」

「Imade village, Kurfeta village, Taipan village……Our own fields suffer from the salt damage, the men left us, it’s tough on us」

On our way back to the mansion, I discussed the measures to counteract it with Mei. According to Mei, it wasn’t enough to just remove the salt from the fields, the salt has also accumulated in the soil. Apparently, it happened because the villagers judged that nothing would grow there anymore and gave up the land.

「I prepared a lot of fertilizer but I don’t know whether it works against the salt….」

「No, it’s still too early for this. Let’s test my plan first」

From the next day, I dedicated my efforts towards the revival of the land.

First, I gathered what was left of the men and had them remove the salt from the fields and destroy the irrigation channels that drew water from the river.

While they were at it, I used earth magic to dig trenches. At the same time, I created a deep hole at the end of the trenches. Once the salt was removed, I cast a barrier on the fields. The work was finished in two weeks, and, upon seeing its completion, I made it rain inside the barrier.

The rain seeped into the earth and the water followed the trenches to flow into the huge hole. That continued for three days. Meanwhile, I created a huge rectangle that was harder than concrete and dropped it into the water to make a breakwater.

When the hole was filled up and became something like a lake, I dispelled the barriers and ordered Mei to scatter the fertilizer in the fields. After that, I dug out another trench to guide the water from the hole back into the sea.

I headed upstream and dug up a hole. There were multiple underground currents there, which I thought to use for irrigation. After digging for a while, a large amount of water gushed out of the hole. I dug around that place and searched for the source. A lot of water spilled out and became a lake. While being drenched, I dug out a trench to connect it to the other trench. Like that, another river has been created.

「You lot. From now on, you should use the water from the new river to irrigate the fields」

Everyone emotionally drew the water for the river. It seems that Mei also finished scattering the fertilizer, the fields were covered in black.

「This….is a good soil. With this, we can now grow crops」

「Say that after you grow something」

「However, with our numbers…..」

「We will help you out, uncle」

「….Then we shall welcome your help. You can use any vacant house to stay in」

Like that, the village walked on the path of revitalization.

After that, I went through the same process in Kurfeta and Taipan village and restored the land. In the process, I almost fell unconscious two times due to the lack of mana. Each time, Mei used a lap pillow to nurse me back to health. This isn’t something I need to hide but I’m not going to tell this to Rico.「I will do it too! 」she would probably say, and become my permanent lap pillow.  No, it’s not like I did something erotic to Mei. It’s just, you know, tickles my manly heart. It won’t work if Rico forces me into it. The lap pillow is a complicated matter!

By the way, it was decided to use the succubus’ mansion as a new lord’s mansion. Although the forest isn’t safe, the geryons can take care of security. The harpies too moved to the forest because it is easier for them to live there.

Originally, the journey to the forest mansion is supposed to take one day but if you use the same route and the geryons, you can arrive in 30 minutes. For that reason, I worked hard to make a road with earth magic.

As for the other mansion, I have an idea about it.

It shall function as a hotel.